The subject of this thesis is the female characters' way of seeing in the works of Colette. Colette helps liberate women from an oppressive concept of femininity, this being the ultimate goal of the postmodern feminists (Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray). In Colette's works we find several characteristics that show her resistance to the dominant ideology, the most important being an emphasis placed elsewhere than upon things considered important in patriarchal culture. / Renee Nere of La Vagabonde, novelist and music-hall mime, is examined in the second chapter. For Renee, liberty is more important than the security of the established identity which marriage offers. The pain associated with her choice to remain alone underscores the oppression that she must bear. / "Colette" in La Naissance du jour is studied in Chapter Three. There we discuss the importance of "Sido" in the construction of "Colette's" life model, a construction that never ends. The differences between mother (poet) and daughter (novelist) are studied along with their similarities. Again, reflection and writing are found to be more noble than love.

This thesis studies the ways in which female characters in Chaucer's poetry use language. Differences between feminine and masculine discourse in the Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde are examined, along with factors shaping the poetic articulation of the feminine in the Middle Ages. Part I sets out the background material which provides the context for the close readings of Parts II and III. Since the framework within which Chaucer's female characters speak is poetic, the first chapter is concerned with contemporary views about how poetic meaning is produced: what is the status of the author? How does the author read - and rewrite - his or her sources? Which rhetorical conventions govern literary representation, and how is the literary text justified? Part I also considers why rhetoric should be an issue as regards women in the Middle Ages, and what modes of signifying are available to women in social, spiritual and literary contexts. Perspectives on appropriate female behaviour and discourse are gained through an examination of the rhetorical traction, works of devotional and didactic instruction, and the conventions of fin'amor. Parts II and III present a close reading of Chaucer's poetry. The readings are informed by the perspectives outlined in Part I, and by modern literary theories, and involve some assessment of the applicability of recent theory to Chaucer's poetry. The Legend of Good Women and Troilus and Criseyde are both seen as vitally concerned with poetic practice and theory, and with the poetic representation of female characters. The poet's representation of the heroines in the course of the Legend provides a critique of the conception of poetry articulated by the god of Love in the Prologue. The hermeneutical and representational difficulties that the poet of the Troilus experiences with his poem are intimately linked with his treatment of Criseyde. The thesis considers the intersection between poetics and the poetic representation of the feminine.

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Thesis (PhD)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study aims at highlighting a crucial aspect of Xhosa drama: The portrayal of the role women have been forced culturally to assume in society. A selection of Xhosa plays from three periods (1958 - 1965; 1974 - 1982; and 1988 - 1997) is examined. In the process of the study, the analysis and the interpretation of these dramas as well as the depiction of women characters is examined. Authors of the ten dramas under study advocate change through the powerful forces of gender stereotypes and culture distortions. The attributes that the authors commonly ascribe to women characters are passivity, irrationality, compliancy and incorrigibility. An examination of the reasons behind this proliferation of these female stereotypes and the lack of realistic women characters is undertaken. The study posits reasons why particular stereotypes appear in the works of several authors over a period of time. The women characters are products of social conditioning, that is, ideals or counter-ideals of the prevailing values of the authors' culture. They are a symbolic fulfillment of the writers' needs. The broad cultural perspectives of the authors also shape the texts they produce. These dramas treat issues and themes, which become central to the formal and structural ordering of the drama. Such themes have an impact at times on form and structure. In each case the ideology of the class represented by authors under study is indeed reflected in the text, to its detriment. The dominating themes in the ten dramas are forced marriages and women abuse. The authors are so preoccupied with injustices against women that they distort certain cultural aspects by, for example, exaggeration. Women are constantly depicted as victims, while there are no indications in the authors' depictions of women that perceptions of their cultural role and status are in reality undergoing changes. The thesis is arranged as follows: Chapter 1 introduces the aim, the scope, the theories and the methods of the study. Chapter 2 deals with the development of plot within episodes in the dramas of the first literary period (1958 - 1965). These episodes depict the different phases of the dramas. A critical evaluation of the dramas by motivating their positive and negative aspects is undertaken. Chapter 3 deals with the development of plot within episodes in the dramas of the second literary period (1974 - 1982). As in the first literary period, a critical evaluation of the dramas by motivating their positive and negative aspects is examined. Chapter 4 deals with the development of plot within episodes in the dramas of the third literary period (1988 - 1997). A critical evaluation of the dramas by motivating their good and bad points is undertaken. Chapter 5 deals with woman as character in Xhosa dramas under study. A detailed analysis of the main woman character in each drama is undertaken. Furthermore, a critical summary of how the woman has been portrayed in the dramas is presented. Chapter 6 presents depiction of Xhosa culture in the Xhosa dramas. From each drama, certain selected aspects of culture are explored and an investigation of the portrayal of these aspects is undertaken. Chapter 7 summarizes the findings of the study. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doelstelling van hierdie studie is om 'n kern aspek van Xhosa drama te belig: die rolle wat vroue kultureel gedwing is om te vervul in die gemeenskap. 'n Seleksie Xhosa dramas vanuit drie tydperke (1958 - 1965; 1974 - 1982; en 1988 - 1997) word ondersoek. In die loop van die studie, ontleding en interpretasie van hierdie dramas word die uitbeelding van vroue karakters ook ondersoek. Die skrywers van die tien dramas wat bestudeer word, betoog vir verandering deur middel van die sterk kragte van stereopites en kultureelverwronge voorstellings. Die eienskappe wat die skrywers algemeen toeskryf aan vroue karakters is passiwiteit, irrasionele optrede, gehoorsaamheid en deugsaamheid. 'n Ondersoek na die redes vir die proliferasie van hierdie vroulike stereotipes en die tekortkoming aan realistiese vroue karakters in Xhosa dramas word uitgevoer in die studie. Die studie voer redes aan waarom bepaalde stereotipes in die werk van verskeie skrywers oor 'n tydperk verskyn: hulle vrouekarakters is die produk van sosiale kondisionering, dit wil sêm ideale of teen-ideale van die heersende waardes van die skrywer se kulturele agtergrond en 'n simboliese vervulling van die skrywer se behoeftes. Die algemene kulturele perspektiewe van die skrywers beïnvloed en vorm ook die tekste wat hulle lewer. Hierdie dramas behandel naamlik vraagstukke tematies wat sentraalook bepalend is ten opsigte van die vorm en struktuur van die drama. Sodanige temas het gevolglik in bepaalde gevalle 'n invloed op die vorm en struktuur van die drama. Voorts word die ideologie van die klas verteenwoordig deur die skrywers in elke geval gereflekteer en die teks tot bepaalde nadele daarvan. Die prominente temas in die tien dramas is gedwonge huwelike en vrouemishandeling. Die skrywers is so gepre-okkupeer met die ongeregtighede teenoor vroue dat hulle bepaalde kulturele aspekte verwring deur, byvoorbeeld, buitensporige voorstellings. Vroue word voortdurend voorgestel as slagoffers, terwyl daar feitlik geen aanduidings is in die skrywer se voorstelling van vroue, dat persepsies oor hulle kulturele rol en status inderwaarheid besig is om veranderinge te ondergaan. Die proefskrif is soos volg gestruktureer: Hoofstuk 1 gee die doelstellings, omvang, teorieë en metodes wat in die studie gevolg word. Hoofstuk 2 behandel die ontwikkeling van intrige binne verskillende episodes in die dramas van die eerste literêre periode (1958 - 1965). Hierdie episodes gee 'n uitbeelding van die verskillende fases van die dramas wat in die studie ondersoek word. 'n Kritiese evaluering word van die dramas gedoen deur die positiewe en negatiewe aspekte daarvan te motiveer. Hoofstuk 3 behandel die ontwikkeling van intrige binne die episodes van die dramas van die tweede literêre periode (1974 - 1982). Soos vir die eerste literêre periode, word 'n kritiese evaluering gedoen van die dramas deur onder andere die positiewe en negatiewe literêre aspekte daarvan te motiveer. Hoofstuk 4 ondersoek die ontwikkeling van die intrige binne die episodes in die dramas van die derde literêre periode (1988 - 1997). Die kritiese evaluering van hierdie dramas sluit, soos vir die vorige periodes, 'n gemotiveerde beskouing in van die positiewe en negatiewe aspekte. Hoofstuk 5 ondersoek die vrou as karakter in die Xhosa dramas wat bestudeer word. 'n Gedetaileerde analise van die hoof-vroue karakters in elke drama word gedoen. Daarna word 'n kritiese oorsig aangebied van hoe die vrou voorgestel word in die dramas wat bestudeer is. Hoofstuk 6 bied 'n uitbeelding van Xhosa kultuur in die dramas wat ondersoek is. Bepaalde aspekte van kultuur word vir elke drama ondersoek en die uitbeelding van hierdie kultuur aspekte word behandel. Hoofstuk 7 bied 'n opsomming van die belangrikste bevindinge van die studie.

On découvre en Maeterlinck deux hommes: le poète et le naturaliste: le poète avec sa délicatesse et sa sensibilité, et le paysan flamand d`une constitution lourde et carrée. Maurice Maeterlinck naquit en 1862 dans la villa familiale d‘Oostacker, près de Gand. Le paysage belge lui fournit la scène pour Les Sept Princesses: une terre noire de marais, avec des chênes et des saules, des châteaux sombres sur des voûtes, et des canaux sinueux où flottent des cygnes. Le milieu mélancolique de Gand l’inclinait vers le fatalisme de ses premiers ouvrages. Il cherchait toujours la solitude; il aimait beaucoup le silence. Même les sports qu’il choisissait le menèrent d`être seu1: en été, il faisait de longues promenades en barque sur les sombres canaux, il fuyait en bicyclette au bord des grandes prairies solitaires; en hiver, il patinait. Il resta paysan toute sa vie. Il reçut son éducation au Collège des Jésuites aux bords de la Lys. Il détestait les Jésuites; leur enseignement religieux terrifiait son imagination de petit garçon sensible. La peur de l’enfer, qu’ils lui enseignaient laissa indélébile une marque sur sa vie, et sur son être. “On ne devrait pas avoir le droit,” disait-il, “de déformer ainsi de futurs hommes.” (l) Pour faire plaisir à ses parents, il devint avocat, mais son inaptitude à la profession juridique était bien apparente. Après son dernier procès: “C’est fini, je ne plaiderai plus [...]

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Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Title proper from title frame. Also available in printed format.

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This dissertation seeks t o achieve three objectives: (1) to draw attention to the genre of the "Dorfgeschichte," (2) to examine "Dorfgeschichten" which were highly acclaimed in nineteenth century Germany, but are dismissed by literary scholarship today, (3) and most importantly, to adjust decades of inveterate and misleading critical responses with regard to the writers Berthold Auerbach and Jeremias Gotthelf. Although Auerbach's Schwarzwalder Dorfgeschichten were received with great enthusiasm by the literati in nineteenth century Germany, his contribution to the genre is diminished by literary critics and historians today. Some, such as Hermann Boeschenstein, claim that the author "was merely ... sugar-coating the realities of peasant life , while having no real contacts with it . "On the other hand, although the majority of Gotthelfs shorter narrative works receive little scholarly attention , the consensus of critical opinion in regard to the author is that he possessed an "unexcelled insight into the peasant's inner life ." On the basis of my close analysis of Auerbach's and Gotthelfs respective texts : Schwarzwalder Dorfgeschichten (1843-1854), and Kleinere Erzahlunaen (1838-1852), [More abstract follows]